Flooring material and fabrication method thereof

Abstract

The present invention relates to a flooring material and a fabrication method thereof. Since the invention forms the flooring material using bio-degradable resin which can be fabricated with materials extracted from the reproducible resources, the invention solves the supply and demand problem of raw materials caused by the depletion of oil resources. Further, the invention improves the production efficiency of the flooring materials by applying a calendaring method during the fabrication process, emits few environmentally-harmful materials including CO 2 or the like, and provides the environmentally-friendly flooring material which is discarded easily. In addition, the invention can solve the problem caused by the size change which occurs when a bio-degradable sheet is used, whereby a stably and continuously-usable flooring material is provided.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A flooring material comprising: a fiber layer or a fiber-reinforced polymer layer; and a front surface layer or a rear surface layer formed on the fiber layer or fiber reinforced layer and the front surface layer or the rear surface layer comprising at least one bio-degradable sheet;
 wherein the bio-degradable sheet is formed of a resin composition comprising polylactic acid; 
 wherein the resin composition further comprises at least one processing aid, wherein the processing aid is a urethane resin modified by at least 2 to 15 polar groups; 
 wherein the fiber layer or fiber-reinforced polymer layer has a thickness of 0.2 to 0.8 mm; and 
 wherein the processing aids are present in an amount of 0.5 to 20 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the polylactic acid. 
 
     
     
       2. The flooring material of  claim 1 , wherein the fiber layer includes woven fabric, nonwoven fabric, or scrim comprising at least one component selected from the group consisting of glass fiber, carbon fiber, polyester fiber, polyamide fiber, polyurethane fiber, acrylic fiber, polyolefin fiber, and cellulose fiber. 
     
     
       3. The flooring material of  claim 1 , wherein the fiber-reinforced polymer layer comprises woven fabric, nonwoven fabric or scrim comprising at least one component selected from the group consisting of poly lactic acid, acrylic resin, polyvinyl chloride, urethane resin, melamine resin, phenol resin, epoxy resin, and polyester resin. 
     
     
       4. The flooring material of  claim 3 , wherein the woven fabric, nonwoven fabric or scrim has a basis weight of 20 to 120 g/m 2 . 
     
     
       5. The flooring material of  claim 1 , wherein the polylactic acid comprises L-polylactic acid. 
     
     
       6. The flooring material of  claim 1 , wherein the resin composition further comprises plasticizers and fillers. 
     
     
       7. The flooring material of  claim 6 , wherein the plasticizers comprise at least one component selected from the group consisting of a phthalate-based compound, allyl phosphate ester, dialkylether diester, tricarboxylic acid ester, epoxidized oil, epoxidized ester, polyalkylene oxide, polyester, polyglycol diester, allylether diester, aliphatic diester, alkylether monoester, citrate ester, dicarboxylic acid ester, vegetable oil, and glycerin ester. 
     
     
       8. The flooring material of  claim 6 , wherein the plasticizers are present in an amount of 20 to 50 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the polylactic acid. 
     
     
       9. The flooring material of  claim 6 , wherein the fillers comprise organic fillers or inorganic fillers. 
     
     
       10. The flooring material of  claim 6 , wherein the fillers are present in an amount of 1 to 300 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the polylactic acid. 
     
     
       11. The flooring material of  claim 1 , wherein the resin composition further comprises at least one component selected from the group consisting of foaming agents, lubricants, crosslinking agents, and UV stabilizers. 
     
     
       12. The flooring material of  claim 1 , wherein the front surface layer comprises at least one component selected from the group consisting of a transparent layer, a filler layer, and a printed layer. 
     
     
       13. The flooring material of  claim 1 , wherein the rear surface layer comprises at least one component selected from the group consisting of an interleaving layer, an elastic foaming layer, a release layer, an elastic layer, and a woven fabric layer. 
     
     
       14. A flooring material comprising: a fiber-reinforced polymer layer; and a front surface layer or a rear surface layer formed on the fiber reinforced layer and the front surface layer or the rear surface layer comprising at least one bio-degradable sheet;
 wherein the bio-degradable sheet is formed of a resin composition comprising polylactic acid; 
 wherein the resin composition further comprises processing aids; and 
 wherein the processing aids comprise at least one selected from the group consisting of acrylic resin and urethane resin; and 
 wherein the fiber-reinforced polymer layer has a thickness of 0.2 to 0.8 mm;
 wherein the processing aids are present in an amount of 0.5 to 20 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the polylactic acid, 
 wherein the fiber-reinforced polymer layer is a composite layer which is formed by impregnating a nonwoven fabric of glass fiber with a resin, 
 wherein the resin is a urethane resin, 
 wherein the glass fiber has a basis weight of 20 to 120 g/m2. 
 
 
     
     
       15. The flooring material of  claim 14 , wherein the polylactic acid in the resin composition for the bio-degradable sheet is a copolymer having comonomer selected from the group consisting of a glycol compound, dicarboxylic acid, hydroxycarbonic acid and lactones. 
     
     
       16. The flooring material of  claim 14 , wherein the resin composition further includes poly(butyleneadipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT). 
     
     
       17. A method of fabricating a flooring material, comprising:
 forming a fiber layer or a fiber-reinforced polymer layer; and 
 forming a bio-degradable sheet on the fiber layer or fiber-reinforced polymer layer; 
 wherein the bio-degradable sheet is formed of a resin composition comprising polylactic acid; 
 wherein the resin composition further comprises at least one processing aid, wherein the processing aid is a urethane resin modified by at least 2 to 15 polar groups; 
 wherein the fiber layer or fiber-reinforced polymer layer has a thickness of 0.2 to 0.8 mm; 
 wherein the processing aids are present in an amount of 0.5 to 20 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the polylactic acid; and 
 wherein the bio-degradable sheet is formed by a calendaring process. 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17 , wherein the formation of the bio-degradable sheet comprises: (1) pressing the bio-degradable sheet onto one side of the fiber layer or fiber-reinforced polymer layer; (2) printing a pattern on a surface of the bio-degradable sheet pressed onto the fiber layer or fiber-reinforced polymer layer; and (3) additionally forming a bio-degradable sheet on one side or both sides of a laminate of the fiber layer or fiber-reinforced polymer layer having the pattern on the surface thereof and the bio-degradable sheet.